So, eyebrow backstory, eh? I remember being in 8th grade and first coming to that realization as a young woman that you're "supposed to" consistently shave and pluck "unwanted" hair. I remember someone saying something about my bushy eyebrows and, mortified, I went home after school and immediately did something about it. Of course I had never plucked hairs before and was intimidated by that (and thought it sounded painful), so I decided to go for a method I was more familiar with: shaving. It sounds like it's going to be a horror story, but it actually turned out just fine and the next day at school the same person asked me if I'd plucked my brows, to which I replied, nonchalantly, "no." Which wasn't a lie, because I had actually shaved the stray hairs. Anyway, eventually I got over my fear of plucking.
I'm pretty low maintenance when it comes to my brows (okay, and in general). I typically just pluck the little stray hairs. I've always had more bold brows, mostly because I have dark, thick hair and having light brows didn't make visual sense for me and I also want the least upkeep possible. When I pluck I maintain the natural shape of my brows, but a good general rule for brow shape is the following method.
Take a thin pencil or brush and hold it to the side of your nostril. Line it up with the inside of your eye and that's where the brow starts. Leave the pencil on the nostril and line it up with the pupil and where it falls on the brow is where the peak of the arch is. Now rotate the pencil to the outside corner of the eye and the pencil will be at the end of the brow. Just a general guideline if you're not sure how you want to shape your brow. Obviously there are tons of different ways to shape brows, so just figure out what look you want to go for. I like going off of my natural brow shape and just refining it so I don't have to do a lot of maintenance.
Only recently did I discover that I could enhance my brows with make up. I always figured brow pencils were for people with super light or thin brows, but having gotten my makeup done professionally a couple times in the last year, I really enjoyed how they did my brows and started to experiment with that on my own.
Some people like brow pencils, but I find that pencils look a bit too drawn-on and bold for me, so I usually just use a small angle brush, like MAC's 208 angled brow brush, and eyeshadow which matches the color of my brows. I lightly fill in my brows with the brush, following the shape and direction of my brows. If I'm wanting my brows to stay put more I can brush on some clear or brown mascara to fix them in place so hairs don't move, but that's typically only for special occasions or if I'm performing on stage.
I like doing my brows because it seriously takes like 5 seconds and can just refine my makeup to look cleaner and more polished. I'm all about quick make-up fixes. I don't do this everyday, but when I want to feel more put together it's an easy way to do it.
You can also use eyebrow pencils to do more fun shapes and colors with your brows if you want to adjust your natural shape and color for a more fun and funky look. For my Adventures in Oz performance I made my brows red, for a bolder look that matched my costume and would read into the audience.
